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Post by Gray Librarian on May 6, 2015 14:29:40 GMT
Yes, which is why it should be extinguished as quickly and decisively as possible.
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Post by Leaf on May 6, 2015 14:30:35 GMT
Not quite what I meant.
How do you define "apostasy"? Why must it be extinguished?
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 6, 2015 15:10:09 GMT
Apostasy is schism from the true Library. It involves profaning the gifts with which we are entrusted by exploiting them for illibrarious purposes. It is a moral abomination of the highest order.
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Post by Leaf on May 6, 2015 15:20:54 GMT
I see. So the trouble is that this apparent competitor seems to be a commercial venture, and not merely that it exists at all?
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Hadassah
Regular
Posts: 107
World: Pantheon
Pronoun: She/Her
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Post by Hadassah on May 6, 2015 15:32:44 GMT
Freedom of religion is a well defined feature of our my world, Leaf, however deities should know better than to meddle one another's domains.
I have, as required by my department rules, written a report on this. It is filed and in process, so I imagine that the local knowledge gods will deal with the interlopers and charlatans on their turf in the next few working days.
If formal action is going to also be made by the Library of Babel, I understand but I hope that your policy lends itself towards isolating most conflicts to temporary subspacial or superdimensional layers to prevent damage on local habitation and infrastructure.
Looks like I now need to find out if there are well recognized interuniversal courts we can use to arbitrate these issues now.
Good thing I don't sleep.
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 6, 2015 16:01:16 GMT
All schismatics necessarily reject some essential moral law. If they did not, then they would have no reason to commit schism.
The assistance of local authorities, while not strictly necessary, is welcome. The Library does not engage in acts of destruction. It is not possible to reliably confirm the absence of destructive tendencies in schismatics.
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Post by Leaf on May 6, 2015 16:06:52 GMT
It seems highly plausible to me that something superficially appearing to be a competitor or schism of your library could arise in the multiverse through sheer coincidence without ever having had anything to do with your library at all.
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 6, 2015 16:29:08 GMT
The investigative process takes into account the possibility of coincidental resemblances. Coincidence in this case currently seems unlikely, on the grounds that Hadassah reported that the entity in question self-identified as a competitor to the true Library.
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Hadassah
Regular
Posts: 107
World: Pantheon
Pronoun: She/Her
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Post by Hadassah on May 6, 2015 17:06:09 GMT
No, I suspect they knew exactly what they were doing as they claimed to have "a better selection of material than the Ascended Collections of Alexandria, better service than the Library of Babel, and a better emotional homeostasis than the Vaults of Sublime Nirvana." I dont know why they advertised like that, as none of those places have opened a branch on our plane, as far as I know, yet. I am brimming with absolute excitement at the prospects though, let me tell you.
I will try to figure out who to contact to enable your Library to properly fight them in the proper channels and get back to you.
Speaking of proper channels, I have a representative of our local Marduk interested in contacting your organization, Grey Librarian. Should I give him your contact information here, or is there a customer service/diplomatic treatise department that would be more appropriate?
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Post by Andrew on May 6, 2015 17:12:20 GMT
Gray Librarian, is there a list of these moral principles somewhere? You don’t seem to oppose the sale of books in principle, or the lending of books for that matter. Why would an L-space-backed multi-universal bookstore or lending library be morally wrong, while single-world versions seem to be OK?
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 6, 2015 23:04:18 GMT
This forum is an acceptable means of communication. More direct communication will probably become available at the same time as physical access to your world.
The full range of the gifts with which we are entrusted, and of the moral laws which we are charged to obey in the use of those gifts, are not disclosed except to initiates.
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Post by Andrew on May 7, 2015 2:03:41 GMT
Then it sounds like Hadassah encountered a competitor that had heard of the library but had not actually split from it. I don’t see how in that case they could have then rejected moral laws they hadn’t actually heard. I have not rejected your moral laws, but at the moment I do not see any moral reason I could not start an L-space-based library different from the Library of Babel. There are plenty of practical reasons (such as my being fairly confident my universe does not support L-space after having talked with a few of the librarians here about it), and I have no plans to start one, but I don’t see why it would be morally wrong to do so.
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 7, 2015 4:58:55 GMT
The ability to travel through L-space is not practically sufficient to create a meaningful competitor to the true Library for the same reason that the ability to travel through mundane space is not practically sufficient to gain possession of all material objects in a world. The ability to access L-space is merely a useful supplement to an ordinary library, comparable to the addition of a card catalog. Any library claiming to compete with the true Library is for practical reasons necessarily either exaggerating outrageously or apostate.
The advertising slogans quoted by Hadassah are similar to propaganda slogans used by an apostate organization known as the "Library of Babylon". We are still investigating.
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Post by Leaf on May 7, 2015 12:35:22 GMT
Suppose that there was a library somewhere in the multiverse which arrived at all or most of the externally visible capabilities of your Library separately, without ever having contact with you. I think that's conceivable, given the nature of this forum. Maybe not likely, but conceivable.
Would that other library be as bad as one that split from you? Or does it only count if someone knows the laws and rejects them?
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Post by Gray Librarian on May 7, 2015 14:35:29 GMT
Such a library would be classified as an ordinary library rather than an apostate organization. Its resemblance to the true Library would for practical reasons necessarily be only superficial.
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